BIKE rides, football on the green, exploring woods, trees or anything else which may have caught our imagination, childhood was always an outdoor adventure.

Ten years later and the home telephone has been replaced by the mobile and the gathering of bikes outside the local shop has been replaced by My Space, Face Book and a hundred other Internet sites promoting social chat.

But it would seem that while kids communication with the outside world has become less frequent, recent research would suggest it isn’t just cyber space or technology which is keeping Loughborough’s kids out of play.

In the 1970s, the average nine-year-old girl would have been free to wander more than 900 yards from her front door.

In the 1970s, at least 80 per cent of primary school children walked to and from school alone.

But new findings from the Children’s Society have found a sudden shift in attitudes.

According to their investigation, nearly half of parents in the Midlands believe children should not go out unsupervised until they are 14-years-old.

Andrew Gilyead, regional director for the Midlands region, told the Echo: “There is a mismatch of opinion. On one side, parents want to give their children the same childhood as they had but on the other side they are too afraid to let them out of their sight.”

Andrew believes this can have detrimental effects on a child forming lasting friendship groups.

But why the sudden change in attitude?

Andrew isn’t sure. He tells me this project is just part one of six exploring the affects of children growing up in today’s society but added that “there does seem to be a lot of parent anxiety about the outside world.”

And no wonder! With every newspaper splashed with paedophile stories and the recent abduction of Rothley tot, Madeleine MaCann, shouldn’t all parents keep their children on a tight leash?

It would seem not.

According to the NSPCC, a child is more likely to be sexually abused by a relative, a family friend or a person in a position of power than a complete stranger.

On the website Missing Kids UK there are nearly 40 children under the age of 16 who have gone missing.

Alan Blackburn, intelligence officer for the UK National Missing Persons Bureau, told the Echo: “I would say that four of the children featured are definitely thought to be the victim of an abduction by a stranger due to the circumstances of how they went missing.”

Not many, may I add.

But how can parents protect their children but still give them the freedom they deserve?

Ruth Coppard, child psychologist of 30 years, said: “The world has changed radically. More people are aware of all the bad things that are going on and the media has sensationalised it much more than they used too. It is on the front page much longer when the truth is these cases are very rare.”

Ruth believes there should be “gradual child development” starting with the back garden, a friend’s garden, the front garden before moving further afield.

She added: “They are right to be concerned. But their job is to give the child as many skills as they can without constant supervision.”